Kit for pipe nipples and the like



April 19, 1955 J. P. THON 2,706,576 KIT FOR PIPE NIPPLES AND THE LIKE Filed Aug. 24, 1951 INVENTOR. 12 i i Jim/Es 0 7 /0 V 3 M T BY 3i I t l away/Lag; i I

Jrronusys United States Patent OfiFice 2,706,576 Patented Apr. 19, 1955 KIT FOR PIPE NIPPLES AND THE LIKE James P. Thon, Owatonna, Minn.

Application August 24, 1951, Serial No. 243,535

1 Claim. (Cl. 220-20) This invention relates to compartmented boxes and more particularly to that type of box which is adapted to compactly contain classified articles and maintain them in readiness for selection or for display purposes.

It is a prime object of the invention to provide a box having a novel arrangement of partitioned structure with extending surfaces for fastening the compartment partitions together.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a box compartment structure in which a series of various sized compartments or cells comprise an upper portion of the box when it is lying in one position with a first movable cover providing access thereto; and when the box is inverted with the first cover closed the second opposite series of compartments become the top portion of the box and likewise are accessible when the second movable cover thereover is moved to an open position.

These and other objects and advantages of my invention will more fully appear from the following description made in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein like reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views and in which;

Fig. 1 shows a top view of one form of my compartmented box with the top cover in open position and shown only in fragment.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the box shown in Fig. 1 with a segmented vertical sectional view taken on the lines 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a detailed perspective view of one of the vertical partition sheets.

Fig. 4 is a detailed perspective view of the transverse partition sheet employed in the structure of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a segmented vertical section of an alternate structure taken in the same portion of a similar box as the sectional segment shown in Fig. 2.

Referring more particularly to the drawings my novel compartmented box consists of a side wall and a side wall 11 in spaced parallel relation. End walls 12 and 13 join the side edges of the walls 10 and 11 so as to form a rectangular frame. The end walls 12 and 13 may be reinforced as by additional plates or walls 12a and 13a in juxtaposed relation. The box is formed preferably of sheet metal such as steel and all the parts may be spotwelded or otherwise secured throughout the structure wherever it is desired to fix one part to another. Thus walls 12a and 13a may have flanged portions as at 14 on wall 12:: and 15 on wall 13a. At the upper edge of side wall 11 as viewed in Fig. 1 a hinge element 16 is attached between the side wall and the cover wall 17. The cover may have L-shaped corner reinforcements 18 for additional strength. Disposed on the outside face of the end wall 13 is a handle element 19 which may be formed of an ordinary plate 20 bolted or otherwise secured to the wall 13 at 21 and containing a cylindrical portion 22 in which the hand grip 23 is pivotally secured. On the side wall 10 as viewed in Fig. 2 a cooperating latch member 24 is disposed with one detent portion 25 being affixed to the front flange 26 of cover 17 and the cooperating detent 27 being attached to the side wall 10. At the bottom of the box as shown is a cover wall 28 having flange sides 29 to one of which is attached a latch member 30 cooperating with detent 31 attached in turn to side wall 10 near its lower edge.

In the structure as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 the vertical partition sheets with their longitudinally disposed flanges 36 extend vertically for the entire height of the partition structure and are thus all equal in length. In this preferred structure as well as in the alternative structure a uniform space may exist between the tops of the partition sheets 35 with their flanges 36 and the plane of the cover 17. It is, of course, understood that the partition sheets 35 and flanges 36 may extend all the way to the plane of the cover 17 and to the plane of the cover 28. It has been found useful, however, to maintain this space between the extremities of the partition sheets 35 and the covers 17 and 28 so that articles placed lengthwise in the compartments may extend short distances above the tops of the partition sheets in order to be readily grasped by the user. Transversely disposed sheets or plates 38 as shown in detail in Fig. 4 traverse the vertical channels formed between the vertical partition sheets 35 as shown in Fig. 2. An upwardly extending flange 39 on each plate 38 is fixed to each of the partition sheets 35 and downwardly extending flange on the plate 38 is fixed to the next adjoining partition sheet 35. Where it is not necessary to have the additional structural strength fastening means may be employed between a vertical partition sheet 35 and only one of the flange members 39 or 40 with satisfactory results. Each of the transverse partition sheets or plates 38 may be placed at such a vertical position between the partition sheets 35 as to form a compartment of depth varying from its adjoining compartment as required for the specific type of article or articles to be classified and retained within the box.

It will be understood that I may use other types of materials such as molded plastic for the construction of my box and that the cellular structure may be formed from a one-piece molding operation as well as from separately formed partition sheets. In the case of such one-piece molded cellular structure the inside compartments may be formed as a unit and inserted into an empty box provided with double covers as hereinbefore described. The compartmented cellular structure may thus of itself be of novel construction regardless of the box in which it may be placed.

In the alternative structure shown in Fig. 5 a unitary stepped partition sheet 32 extends from the upper edge of wall 12 transversely of the entire box to the lower edge of wall 13 and is afiixed to the respective end walls 12 and 13 by means such as spot welding. The stepped partition 32 has a tread portion 33 and a riser portion 34 as in the case of ordinary structural steps. It will be noted that the stepped partition is double-faced and presents the same tread and riser arrangement when inverted.

In the alternative structure shown in Fig. 5 the first series of compartments indicated generally at F is formed above the stepped partition 32 by vertical partition sheets 35 having the same width between parallel longitudinally extending flanges 36 but varying in length. The face of each of the partition sheets 35 having the same width between parallel longitudinally extending flanges 36 but. varying in length. The face of each of the partition sheets 35 at the bottom thereof and opposite the laterally extending flanges 36 is attached as by welding to each of the riser faces 34 of the stepped partition 32 and the outwardly extending flanges 36 are fastened to the side walls 10 and 11. The flanges 36 may abut against the face of the next partition sheet as shown or may extend only part way toward the face. partition sheets thus define a vertical compartment having the tread portion 33.of the stepped partition as a bottom therefori A second series of compartments is indicated generally at S. These compartments may be symmetrically disposed with respect to the upper series of compartments F with the flange portions 36 of the partition sheets 35 extending to the left as viewed in Fig. 5 whereas the Successive pairs of vertical flanges 36 extend to the right in the same view in the case of the upper series of compartments F.

It is thus seen that I have constructed a novel and efficient box, utilizing all the space therein for the purpose of forming a plurality of compartments having various depths which may be used to contain classified articles such as workmens supplies and tools or for displaying a multiplicity of the same articles having different sizes or different articles grouped in some other convenient classification. A specific example of the use to which my box may be put is the classification and retaining for convenient selection of pipe nipples for use by plumbers. Pipe nipples corresponding in length to each compartment may be placed therein and each compartment may contain one or more pipes having different diameters in the same length of nipple. In addition it Will be observed that the transverse partitions may form two symmetrical series of compartments so that in the specific example cited black iron nipples may be placed in one series of compartments and galvanized iron nipples in the other series. Both covers 17 and 28 are maintained in a latched condition during carrying or when the box is not otherwise in use. When it is desired to view the articles contained therein or to remove any of them, the box is placed with the cover 28 at the bottom in order to gain access to the series of compartments denoted by the character F. When it is desired to gain access to the compartments S the cover 17 is placed at the bottom and the box will appear in inverted position from that shown in Fig. 2.

It will, of course, be understood that various changes may be made in the form, details, arrangement and proportions of the parts Without departing from the scope of my invention.

What I claim is:

A container for pipe nipples and the like of varying sizes and lengths comprising a substantially rectangular wall structure, two of the walls in opposed relation providing openable covers, a plurality of vertically disposed spaced parallel sheets forming vertical open-ended channels from one cover to the other, a transverse partition sheet mounted intermediate the ends of each open-ended channel to divide the channel into two opposed openended compartments, a flange structure at the side edges of each of said partition sheets having an upwardly disposed flange at one side and a downwardly disposed flange at the other side, each of said vertical sheets providing a common partition between two adjoining compartments and an upwardly disposed flange of each of said transverse partition sheets being fastened to each vertical sheet in opposed relation to a downwardly disposed flange also secured to the same partition sheet so as to cooperatively strengthen the compartment structure and at the same time provide a stepped series of narrow rectangular compartments for holding articles such as pipe nipples of dimension appropriate for a specific compartment.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 395,939 Adler Jan. 8, 1889 879,635 Harris Feb. 18, 1908 1,252,092 Currier Ian. 1, 1918 1,735,741 Evans Nov. 12, 1929 1,750,258 Brown Mar. 11, 1930 2,585,476 Lerner et a1 Feb. 12, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 420,799 Great Britain Dec. 7, 1934 

